Dental syringe



P 1962 E. J. FRANWICK ET AL 3,054,402

DENTAL SYRINGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORQ EdmOEdJFrQDM ZCZI BYR1ChardA.Beu, @414 I M M+@u-,

AT TORNEYS Filed May 14, 1959 3,@54,42 Patented Sept. 18, 1952 3,054,402DENTAL SYRINGE Edmond J. Franwick and Richard A. Beu, Buifalo, N.Y.,assignors to Hanan Engineering Co., Inc., Buffalo,

' Filed May 14, 1959, Ser. No. 813,094

6 Claims. c1. 12s 229 This invention relates to apparatus for use in thepractice of dentistry or allied arts and more particularly to a handdevice for ejecting streams of water or air or an air-water spray intothe mouth of a patient or for related purposes.

In the practice of dentistry it is the usual practice to eject a streamof water into the mouth of the patient to cleanse an area where work hasbeen or is being performed or for other purposes. In some instances asolid stream of water is most effective and in other an airwater spraymay be more desirable. It is also common to direct an air stream againstcertain areas to dry the same preparatory to performing certain dentaloperations.

In conventional dental apparatus the dental unit is provided with twoentirely separate devices, a water springe and an air jet device. It isa primary object of the present invention to provide a single hand-helddevice which performs all of the above functions at will and is capableof certain combined functions or operations not attainable with eitherof the foregoing conventional devices.

Certain modern high speed dental handpieces for dental drilling areprovided with air or water connections, primarily for cooling a drill,bur or like tool and for preventing overheating of the tooth beingdrilled. These special purpose accessories do not perform the samefunction as the cleansing and drying devices referred to above, they donot replace the same in the dentists array of equipment, and are notusable in place of syringes of the general type contemplated herein.

For general purpose rinsing or cleansing and drying the dentist mustemploy a device or devices apart from the usual drilling hand piece.Water or air discharge devices associated with drilling hand piecesdirect their fluid streams primarily at the handpiece hearings oragainst the drill or burr and only incidentally exhaust these fluidsinto the patients mouth after they have performed their primary functionof cooling the handpiece hearings or cooling and clearing the drill orburr.

On the other hand, the separate water stream and drying air deviceswhich are currently employed by dentists are very commonly usedconjointly or in close succession, so that a single unit which may beused either for liquid cleansing or air drying at will andinstantaneously interchangeably is of inestimaole value to the dentist.To perform these combined functions in a professionally satisfactorymanner the apparatus must be substantially as compact and convenient touse and handle as either of the separate devices of the prior art andshould not require selection or adjustment operations remote from thehandheld device itself.

The present invention provides a multiple purpose device of this kindwhich operates in a safe, convenient and foolproof manner and which maybe instantaneously employed by the dentist to perform the two basicfunctions, water cleansing and air drying, and novel additional combinedfunctions, the chief of which is the emission of a water-air spray foradditional cleansing or clearing operations.

The utility and versatility of the dental tool of the present inventionwill be explained more fully in connection with a detailed descriptionof an exemplary form of such tool which is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and described in detail in the followingspecification. However, it is to be understood that such embodiment isset forth primarily to illustrate and exemplify the principles of theinvention and that the scope of the latter is not limited to the preciseform thus disclosed, nor otherwise than as defined in the appendedclaims.

While the device of the present invention is designed and intendedprimarily for use by dentists and dental technicians for oral cleansingand drying operations and the foregoing discussion is directedparticularly to its use for such purposes, it is to be understood thatthe device may find analogous uses in other surgical or therapeuticfields.

Certain variations and possibilities in the mode of use of the device ofthe present invention which may be attained and practiced by variousflow adjustments and various manipulations of the device will be betterunderstood after an understanding of the mechanism of the exemplary formset forth herein. For this reason a further discussion of such variousadjustments and modes of use is set forth at the end of thisspecification following the detailed description of the form of thedevice illustrated in the drawings by way of example.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is an elevational View of one form of the syringe or fluidejecting device of the present invent-ion;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a central vertical cross-sectional view through the device ofFIGS. 1 and 2 viewed as in FIG. 1 but on a larger scale and withportions thereof broken away;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional View on the line IVIVof FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical cross-sectional View on the line VV ofFIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a horizontal cross-sectional view on the line VIVI of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a horizontal cross-sectional view on the line VHVII of FIG. 3;

FIG. 8 is a horizontal cross-sectional view on the line VIII-VIII ofFIG. 3; and

FIG. 9 is an oblique cross-sectional View on the line IXIX of FIG. 3.

Like characters of reference denote like parts throughout the variousfigures of the drawings and the numeral 10 designates a body memberhaving a reduced upward extension 11. For convenience of manufacture theupward extension 11 is separately fabricated and set into the bodymember 10 but this detail is of no importance insofar as the principlesof the present invention are concerned and accordingly the drawingsillustrate the body member 19 and the upward extension 11 as a unitarymember.

Furthermore, for feasibility of manufacture many of the drilled passagesof the body member 1!? and extension 11 are drilled from a given surfacethereof and then the outer ends of the openings are plugged. This ismerely a necessary and conventional manufacturing expedient and forsimplicity of description these openings will be described only as totheir useful or functional extent, without reference to the aforesaidplugs.

At its upper end the extension 11 is fitted with a combinedwater-ejecting, air-ejecting, and air-water spray emitting nozzleassembly designated generally by the numeral 12. Referring to FIG. 3,the nozzle 12. comprises an outer conduit member 13 and an inner conduitmember 14-, the walls of the two conduits being radially spaced toprovide an intervening annular air passage. At the outer end of thenozzle the water conduit 14 preferably extends beyond the outer end ofthe outer conduit member 13 and a threaded ferrule 16 defines the end ofouter conduit member 13 and may be adjusted axially to modify thecharacteristics of the air-water spray.

The conduit members 13 and 14 are fitted into the upper end of extension11 of body member as clearly shown in FIG. 3 and are held in place by agland type of retaining nut 18. Extension 11 is provided with a verticalwater passage bore and a vertical air passage bore 21, the formercommunicating with the interior of inner conduit 14, and the lattercommunicating with the annular space between the outer and innerconduits 13 and 14 as by way of radial openings 22 in the outer conduit13. The ends of the conduits within the extension 11 are sealed toprovide fluid-tight passages for water and air as by O-ring washers 24and 25 and it will be noted that nut 18 engages an enlargement 26 ofconduit 13 to urge the washers 2.4 and 25 against their respective seatsin the upward extension 11.

Referring particularly to FIG. 4, a flexible water supply conduit 30 anda flexible air pressure supply conduit 31 are associated with the lowerend of body member 19 and communicate respectively with a water inletbore 32 and an air pressure inlet bore 33 formed in the lower end ofbody member 10. The flexible conduits 3t and 31 are attached to the bodymember 10 by conventional nipple and gland nut connection devicesdesignated generally by the reference numerals 34 and 35, respectively,in FIG. 4.

Speaking generally, the air conduit 31 and air pressure inlet bore 33connect with the air passage bore 21 which lead to the annular airpassage through nozzle 12 by way of air passages leading through thebody member 10 in a manner which will presently be described. The waterconduit 30' and water inlet bore 32 are connected with water passagebore 24] of the upward extension 11 by a pair of more or less parallelwater passages which extend upwardly through body member 10 in a mannerand for purposes which will likewise presently appear.

Each of theaforesaid three passages through the body member 10, that isthe air passage and the two water passages, are provided withindependent manual control valves and each of the three passages is alsopreferably provided with a regulatable needle valve which controls theeffective flow orifice of the passage in each case to establish anindependently adjustable maximum flow capacity in each of these threepassages.

The manual valves and the metering needle valves of the three aforesaidpassages are the same in mechanical construction and in generalarrangement and only one of each of these valves is illustrated indetail and will now be described, it being understood that these valvesare each'three in number and identified by like reference numerals toconform with the detailed illustration of the control valve and theneedle valve found in FIG. 3. Only the manual operating buttons of thethree control valves and their valve chambers or bores are designated byseparate reference numerals. FIG. 3 is a central verticalcross-sectional view and accordingly shows the central manual valve andthe central needle valve which both serve to control and regulate one ofthe aforesaid gen erally parallel water passages through the body member10.

Referring to FIGS. 3 and 5, the numeral 40 designates a valve memberwhich comprises a stern movable vertically in a valve bore 41. FIG. 5shows the control valve bores with the movable valve parts omitted. Thelower end of valve member 40 has an enlarged head 42 and an O-ringpacking 43 associated therewith slides in an enlarged portion 44 of bore41. Upon downward movement of a manual control button designatedgenerally by the numeral 46 and attached to the upper end of valvemember 40 packing 43 moves downwardly to the lower end of enlargedportion 44 of bore 41 and in so doing connects inlet water from the bore32 to a cross port 47 leading horizontally from bore 41. The manner inwhich inlet water reaches the valve chamber 44 from the Water inlet bore32 will presently appear.

Referring particularly to FIG. 5, duplicate valve bores 50 and 51 lie atopposite sides of the valve bore 41, the left-hand bore 50 comprising acompanion water control valve chamber and the right-hand bore 51comprising an air control valve chamber. Each of these valve bores isenlarged at its lower portion as in the case of valve bore 41 and eachcontains a valve member identical to the valve member 40.

Water is introduced to the lower end of valve bore 50 by a cross port 53leading from the inlet water bore 32, see also FIG. *8, and this watersource is applied jointly to the valve bores 50' and 41 by virtue of across port 54 which continuously connects the lower ends of the valvebores 50 and 41. Air pressure is introduced to the lower end of valvebore 51 by way of a cross bore 57 which leads thereto from the airpressure inlet bore 33.

The outlet from the valve bore 41 is shown in FIGS. 3 and 5 and has beendesignated by the reference numeral 47. Similar horizontal outlets fromthe valve bores 50 and 51 are designated 60 and '61, respectively, andare shown in FIGS. 5 and 7.

Each of the manual valve outlet passages 47, 60 and 61 leads to one ofthe aforesaid metering needle valves, in a manner which will presentlyappear. In FIG. 4 the three needle valve chambers are designated 64, 65and 66 corresponding, respectively, to the manual valve outlet ports 47,6t and 61 and communicating therewith. The central needle valve ofneedle valve chamber 64 is shown in detail in FIG. 3 and it is to beunderstood that the other two needle valves of the needle valve chambers65 and 66 are identical and are referred to herein by the same referencenumeral.

Referring to FIG. 3, each needle valve 67 has a main body or shankportion, an enlarged threaded upperend portion and a tapered lowerneedle valve portion. The upper ends of each of the needle valvechambers 64, 65 and 66 are threaded to receive the threaded upper endsof the needle valves 67- so that the needle valve portions thereof maybe selectively adjusted relative to beveled seat portions which form thelower ends of the needle valve chambers 64, 65 and 66.

Referring particularly to FIG. 3, the outlet cross port 47 from themanual control valve bore 41 communicates with a vertical port 68 whichleads upwardly into needle valve chamber 64 and is controlled by theneedle valve 67 of chamber 64. The outlet from needle valve chamber 64is designated 70 and leads horizontally to the lower end of the verticalwater passage bore 20 in upward extension 11 of body member 10, asclearly shown in FIG. 3.

The outlet passage 70 leading from needle valve chamber 64 is alsoillustrated in FIG. 6. A horizontal outlet port from needle valvechamber 65 is designated 71 and leads to the outlet portion of needlevalve chamber 64, as shown in FIGS. 4 and 6. Thus the outlets from thetwo water needle valve chambers 64 and 65 discharge jointly through port7 0 into the vertical water passage bore 20 of upward extension 11.

The outlet from air needle valve chamber 66 is designated 73 and leadsobliquely upwardly to the vertical air passage bore 21 of upwardextension 11, as shown in FIGS. 3 and 9.

In the form of the present invention illustrated herein means areprovided for electrically heating the incoming water and for thispurpose a chamber is formed in the bottom of body member 10 and hasinserted therein an electrical heating element 81 energized byelectrical conductors 82. The heat from the heating element 81 istransmitted to the water in the passages of body member 10 by conductionfrom the heating element through the body member itself.

The manual control button for the middle valve 40 has previously beendesignated 46. The corresponding valves 49 of the 'valve bores 59 and 51are provided with manual control buttons designated 83 and84,'respectively, such control buttons being illustrated particularly inFIG. 2.

Referring particularly to FIG. 3, each of the manual push buttons 46, 83and 84 has a circular lower portion which is vertically slidable in acounterbore at the upper end of each of the valve bores 41, 59 and 51,these counterbores being designated, respectively, 556, 87 and 88 inFIG. 5. A compression coil spring, one of which is designated 89 in FIG.3, acts between the lower end of each counterbcre and the lower end ofthe aforesaid circular portion of each of the manual push buttons,urging the latter upwardly and consequently urging the O-ring sealingmember 43 of each valve to closed position.

The three push buttons 45, 83 and 34 are non-circular and together theyform an oblong push button surface which is aptly illustrated in FIG. 2.When the push buttons are all in raised position they mutually preventrotative movement of the push buttons and several valves. The centerpush button 45 has a depending heel portion 90 at its rear part wherebythe left-hand push button 83 even when depressed cannot be rotated in aclockwise direction as viewed from above. The reason for this is thatnormal downward and forward thumb pressure on the push button 83 willtend to rotate the push button 83 in a clockwise direction and the samewould otherwise lock under the upper portion of push button 46'.

However, it will be noted that the forward portion of push button 46 isundercut so that with push button 83 in depressed position it may, by aspecial and deliberate rearward manipulation of the operators thumb, berotated in a counterclockwise direction to lock the same beneath pushbutton 46, in the undercut forward portion thereof, for continuousopening of the valve 49 which is associated with push button 83, asillustrated in dot and dash lines in FIG. 2.

The heel portion of push button 46 provides the same safety featureagainst inadvertent counterclockwise rotation of the push button 84 andthe latter is also susceptible of the same under-locking operation whichmay be instituted by clockwise rotation thereof, likewise as illustratedin dot and dash lines in FIG. 2.

it will be seen from the foregoing that when the push button 84 isdepressed to lower the valve stem 4!; of the valve bore 51, air underpressure from conduit 31 and air inlet bore 33 will flow from cross bore57 through the valve. bore 51 past the valveforming O-ring 43, transversely through the port 61, thence upwardly into needle valve chamber66 past the needle valve 67 therein, thence obliquely upwardly throughport 73 and upwardly through the vertical air passage bore 21 in theupward extension ll of body member lb. The rate of flow will obviouslybe controlled by the setting of the needle valve 67 of needle valvechamber 66.

Flow of water from the water inlet bore 32 of body ember 1G to thevertical water passage bore 2% of upward extension ll is by twoalternative paths, depending upon which of the push buttons 46 and 83 isdepressed. if push button 83 is depressed flow of water is upwardthrough inlet bore 32, horizontally through cross bore 53 into valvebore 58, upwardly past the O-ring 43 of the valve 49 of this valve bore,thence horizontally through port 69 and upwardly into the needle valvechamber 65 past the needle valve 67 therein and through the transverseport 71 into the outlet portion of needle valve chamber 64, thencehorizontally through the port 7% to the lower end of the vertical waterpassage bore of upward extension 11.

It the manual push button 46 is depressed, flow of water will be fromwater inlet bore 32, horizontally through port 53 into the lower end ofvalve bore 50, the valve of which is now closed, thence horizontallythrough port 54 into the lower end of valve bore 41, thence upwardlypast the O-ring 43 of the valve 46 of valve bore 41, thence horizontallythrough the port 47 and upwardly into the lower end of needle valvechamber 64, past the needle valve 67 therein, and thence through 6 thehorizontal port 70 to the lower end of vertical water passage bore 21?of the upward extension 11.

The reason for the two alternative water passages through body member 10under separate manual control of the push buttons 46 and 83 is toprovide two water passages with substantially different flow capacitiesby reason of different settings of the needle valves 67 of the needlevalve chambers 64 and 65. The operator may thus select as between twodifferent degrees of water flow by using one or the other of the manualbuttons 46 and 53. A further variation in use may be practiced bysetting both water needle valves 57 for the same setting, in which casethe operator can choose between two difierent degrees of flow bydepressing either one of the water control push buttons or bothsimultaneously.

While a wide variation in mode of use is possible within the limits ofthe structure provided herein by using various needle valve adjustmentsand by manipulating the push buttons in various combinations, the mostcommon condition of adjustment and mode of use will now be described.

Generally speaking, a much lower degree of water flow is desired toproduce an air water spray than to produce a solid water stream throughnozzle 12. Accordingly, the middle needle valve 67 of needle valvechamber 64 will normally be set much closer than the left-hand needlevalve 67 of needle valve chamber 65. Accordingly, the left-hand pushbutton 83 will be depressed by the operator to produce a solid waterstream through the nozzle, the right-hand push button 84 will bedepressed to produce merely a flow of drying air. Each of these pushbuttons is in a position for ready accessibility and use singly becauseof their positions at the end of the row of three push buttons.

When it is desired to produce an air-water spray, the operator merelyapplies thumb or finger pressure to the two adjacent push buttons 45 and84, thus producing air flow along with a relatively restricted waterflow suitable for spray forming purposes. Of course the immediateadjacency and co-planar faces of push buttons 46 and 84 renders theirjoint depression extremely convenient.

The foregoing merely sets forth what is believed to be the most commonmode of use of the springe of the present invention and it is to beunderstood that any com bination of the various push buttons may bedepressed simultaneously or singly for various special purposes, or tosuit the desirabilities of difierent operators and the several needlevalves 67 may be adjusted to any desired settings independently of eachother to enter into the various combinations of use.

A sheet metal shell or casing 91 is attached to body member it) as byscrews 92 to enclose portions thereof and to cooperate with the bodymember to form a holding portion which may conveniently be held by anoperator. In the illustrated instance casing 91 has depending therefroma flexible tubular portion 93 which encloses the water and air conduits30 and 31 and also the electric heater conductors 82.

We claim:

1. In a dental syringe having a pair of fluid passages and normallyclosed valve means in said passages, a pair of closely adjacent manuallydepressible non-circular push button elements connected to said valvesand adapted to be depressed by the operator to selectively open saidvalves, one of said push buttons being normally held against rotation byabutment against the other of said push buttons and rotatable indepressed position to engage beneath said other push button for holdingthe valve controlled by said one push button in an open condition.

2. In a dental syringe having three fiuid passages and normally closedvalve means in each of said passages, a series of three closely adjacentmanually depressible noncircular push button elements connectedindividually with said valves and adapted to be depressed by theoperator to selectively open said valves, the end push buttons beingnormally held against rotation by abutment against the middleone of saidpush buttons and each of said end push buttons being rotatable indepressed position to engage beneath said middle push button for holdingthe valve controlled by said end push button in an open condition.

3. In a dental syringe having a pair of fluid passages and normallyclosed valve means in said passages, a pair of adjacent manuallydepressible non-circular push button elements connected individuallywith said valves and adapted to be depressed by the operator toselectively open said valves, said push buttons being substantially inabutment edgewise and having coplanar outer faces whereby they may bedepressed singly or jointly by thumb or finger pressure, one of saidpush buttons being normally held against rotation by abutment againstthe other of said push buttons and rotatable in depressed position toengage beneath said other push button for holding the valve controlledby said one push button in an open condition. 7

4. In a dental syringe having three fluid passages and normally closedvalve means in each of said passages, a series of three closely adjacentmanually depressible noncircular push button elements connectedindividually with said valves and adapted to be depressed by theoperator to selectively open said valves, said push buttons beingsubstantially in abutment edgewise and having coplanar outer faceswhereby they may be depressed singly or jointly in adjacent pairs bythumb or finger pressure, the end push buttons being normally heldagainst rotation by abutment against the middle one of said push buttonsand each of said end push buttons being rotatable in de pressed positionto engage beneath said middle push button for holding the valvecontrolled by said end push button in an open condition.

5. In a dental syringe, the combination of an elongate body memberadapted to be grasped in the users hand, a pair of flexible conduitsconnected to said body member to introduce water and air to saidsyringe, a discharge nozzle extending from said body member andcomprising a pair of separate conduit members, said body member havingpassage means connecting one of said flexible conduits to one of saidconduit members and the other of said flexible conduits to the other ofsaid conduit members, valve means in said body member interposed in saidpassage means to control fluid flow manually operable valve actuatingmeans mounted on said body and connected to said valve means, saidactuating means including a pair of manually depressible noncircularpush button elements adapted to be depressed therethrough, and

by the operator to selectively open said valve means, one of said pushbuttons being normally held against rotation by abutment against theother'of said push buttons and rotatable in depressed position to engagebeneath such other push button for holding the valve means control ofsaid one push button in an open condition.

6. In a dental syringe, an elongate body member adapted to be grasped inthe users hand, a pair of conduits leading toione end of said bodymember to introduce water and air to said syringe, a discharge nozzleextending from the other end of said body member, a set of threemanually operable control elements disposed in side-by-side relation forselective manipulation by the user, said body member having a passagetherethrough from said air conduit to said nozzle and a normally closedvalve in said passage connected with an end one of said manual controlelements for selective opening thereof, said body member having a pairof generally parallel passages therethrough from said flexible Waterconduit to said nozzle, one of said pair of passages having a relativelylarge flow capacity and the other having a relatively restricted flowcapacity, and a normally closed valve in each of said pair of passages,the other end one of said control elements being connected withsaidlarge capacity Water passage valve and the middle control element beingconnected with said restricted flow capacity Water passage valve, eachof said passages including a first bore receiving a respective one ofsaid normally closed valves and a metering valve bore displaced from theassociated first bore, a metering valve in each metering valve bore,said pair of passages merging into a common passage between theirrespective metering valve bores downstream of the associated meteringvalves.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS807,243 Chapin Dec. 12, 1905 1,858,056 Pieper May 10, 1932 1,898,569Pearson Feb. 21, 1933 2,052,622 Hale Sept. 1, 1936 2,187,586 Hooper Jan.16, 1940 2,272,381 Marvin Feb. 10, 1942 2,380,827 Downs July 31, 19452,709,452 Calabrese May 31, 1955 2,884,008 Elsdon Apr. 28, 1959 FOREIGNPATENTS 1,139,239 France Feb. 11, 1957 795,283 Great Britain May 21,1958 65,611 Netherlands Apr. 15, 1950

